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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Egyptian soccer fan’s anti-corruption campaign gathers steam

A campaign by militant Egyptian soccer fans to root out
corruption gathered steam this week with the slapping of a travel ban on and
the freezing of assets of the chairman of crowned Cairo club Al Ahly SC by the
country’s Illicit Gains Authority (IGA).

Hassan Hamdy, who until recently doubled as head of the
lucrative advertising department of the state-owned Al Ahram newspaper, for
decades one of Egypt’s most influential media organizations, is the third
official this month suspected of corruption and targeted by the militants to be
called to account.

The fans, Egypt’s second largest civic group, last week scored
a political with a decision by associates of ousted president Hosni Mubarak to withdraw
from elections for the board of the Egyptian Football Association (EFA). The
decision by world soccer body FIFA executive committee member Hani Abou-Reida
and former Al Ahly goalkeeper Ahmed Shobeir to withdraw came in response to a
campaign by Ultras Ahlawy, the club’s militant fan group, demanding they be
disqualified.

In the last month, Ultras Ahlawy – one of several highly
politicised, well-organized, street battle-hardened fan groups – attacked the
club’s training ground, the EFA’s headquarters and media organizations to push for
a clean-up of Egyptian soccer and media, whom they accuse of corruption and
fanning the flames of confrontation.

They also demanded reform of the powerful security forces;
depriving the interior ministry’s police and security’s forces -- the country’s
most despised institution widely viewed as the brutal enforcers of repression
under Mr. Mubarak – of responsibility for security in the stadiums; and the
resignation of the EFA and Al Ahly boards.

The militant’s success is likely to boost their resolve to
thwart this month’s resumption of professional soccer matches that have been
suspended since February when 74 Al Ahly supporters were killed in a
politically loaded brawl in the Suez Canal city of Port Said. The ultras, who
played a key role in last year’s overthrow of Mr. Mubarak and in subsequent
street battles to ensure achievement of the revolt’s goals, reject a resumption
of soccer as long as justice has not been served to those responsible for the
Port Said incident.

The ultras succeeded last month in getting the resumption of
soccer postponed a month until October 17. Authorities had initially planned to
lift the eight-month old suspension on September 17.

With many in Egypt convinced that the Port Said brawl was
instigated in a bid to teach the militants a lesson and cut them down to size,
the militants have demanded that those in high positions responsible for the
worst incident in Egyptian sporting history be called to account. Nine
mid-level security officers are among 74 people standing trial for their role
in the brawl in a slow-moving legal process.

Ultras were on Tuesday among thousands of Egyptians who
demonstrated to commemorate the anniversary of the Maspero killing last year of
27 Coptic Christians in clashes with the military. Ultras carried banners with
pictures of former Supreme Council of the Armed Forces Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein
Tantawi and his deputy Lieutenant General Sami Anan with ropes around their
necks. "The people want the execution of the Field Marshall," the
protesters chanted.

Mr. Tantawi ruled Egypt from the fall of Mr. Mubarak in
February of last year until the election in July of Muslim Brother Mohammed
Morsi as the country’s first free and fairly elected president. Mr. Morsi was
swift after taking office to remove Mr. Tantawi from power.

The ultras emerged after the toppling of Mr. Mubarak as the
country’s most militant opponents to military rule. They believe that the
military was at least tacitly complicit in the Port Said incident.

Egypt’s state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported
that Mr. Hamdy was released on Tuesday on a bail of two million Egyptian pounds
(USD 330,000) after being questioned by the IGA about the accumulation of his
wealth estimated at 500 million pounds (USD 82 million). MENA said Mr. Hamdy
had been unable to provide an explanation and had been banned from travel
abroad. He also had his assets frozen.

Mr. Hamdy has for the past decade been the chairman of Al
Ahly which is Egypt and Africa’s most crowned club with a fan base estimated at
50 million. The club has won Egypt’s championship 34 and the African cup six
times. The Ultras Ahlawy Facebook page has more than 570,000 followers.

The ultras have denounced Mr. Hamdy as a "part of the
dismantled regime" of Mr. Mubarak, accused him of fraud and charge that he
failed to exert sufficient pressure on authorities to hold to account those
responsible for the Port Said incident.

"We said before that Hamdy should leave because he
conspired with the Egyptian Football Association over the Port Said case. And
now that things have become clear for many people, we will not allow Hamdy to
tarnish the image of our club. You have run out of credit, you have no option
but to depart," Ultras Ahlawy said in a statement on their Facebook page.

Mr. Hamdy is believed to have been under investigation of
corruption since last year as a result of his apparent conflict of interest in
being head of the advertisement department of al Ahram as well as chairman of
Egypt’s most prominent soccer club and until last year chair of the EFA’s
sponsorship committee at the same time.

Military police last year were reported to have seized three
boxes of documents that Mr. Hamdy and then Al Ahram editor-in-chief Osama
Saraya had allegedly attempted to smuggle out of the editor’s office when they
were confronted by publishing house employees who suspected that the boxes
contained documents that would prove the two men’s involvement in corruption.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam
School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in
Singapore and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East
Soccer.

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About Me

James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile